The Triflers

The Triflers, by Frederick Orin
Bartlett

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Title: The Triflers
Author: Frederick Orin Bartlett
Release Date: January 27, 2007 [EBook #20458]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TRIFLERS ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: A new tenderness swept over her]

THE TRIFLERS

BY
FREDERICK ORIN BARTLETT

With Illustrations by
George Ellis Wolfe

TORONTO
THOMAS ALLEN
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1917

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY EVERY WEEK CORPORATION
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY FREDERICK ORIN BARTLETT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published March 1917

TO
ANN AND KENT

CONTENTS

I. THE TROUBLE WITH MONTE II. THE TROUBLE WITH
MARJORY III. A SUMMONS IV. A PROPOSAL V. PISTOLS VI.
GENDARMES AND ETHER VII. THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING
SHOT VIII. DRAWBACKS OF RECOVERY IX. BLUE AND GOLD
X. THE AFFAIR AT MAXIM'S XI. A CANCELED RESERVATION
XII. A WEDDING JOURNEY XIII. A WEDDING JOURNEY
(continued) XIV. THE BRIDE RUNS AWAY XV. IN THE DARK
XVI. A WALK ON THE QUAY XVII. JUST MONTE XVIII. PETER
XIX. AN EXPLANATION XX. PAYING LIKE A MAN XXI. BACK
TO SCHEDULE XXII. A CONFESSION XXIII. LETTERS XXIV.
THE BLIND SEE XXV. SO LONG XXVI. FREEDOM XXVII. WAR
XXVIII. THE CORNICE ROAD XXIX. BENEATH THE STARS

ILLUSTRATIONS
LOI A NEW TENDERNESS SWEPT OVER HER . . . Frontispiece
"WE'RE TO BE MARRIED TO-MORROW?"
MONSIEUR'S EYES WARMED AS HE SLIPPED THE WRAP
OVER MADAME'S SHOULDERS
"BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU," BREATHED BEATRICE
"DID N'T BEATRICE TELL ME YOU REGISTERED HERE WITH
YOUR WIFE?"
"PETER!" SHE CRIED, FALLING BACK A STEP
"BUT, O GOD, IF HE WOULD COME!"

From drawings by George E. Wolfe

THE TRIFLERS

CHAPTER I
THE TROUBLE WITH MONTE
For a man to keep himself consistently amused for ten years after his
graduation from college, even with an inheritance to furnish ample
financial assistance, suggests a certain quality of genius. This much
Monte Covington had accomplished--accomplished, furthermore,
without placing himself under obligations of any sort to the opposite
sex. He left no trail of broken hearts in his wake. If some of the
younger sisters of the big sisters took the liberty of falling in love with
him secretly and in the privacy of their chambers, that was no fault of
his, and did neither them nor him the slightest harm.
Such minor complications could not very well be avoided, because,
discreet as Monte tried to be, it was not possible for him to deny certain
patent facts, to wit: that he was a Covington of Philadelphia; that he
was six feet tall and light-haired; that he had wonderfully decent blue
eyes; that he had a straight nose; that he had the firm mouth and jaws of
an Arctic explorer; that he had more money than he knew what to do
with; and that he was just old enough to be known as a bachelor
without in the slightest looking like one.
At the point where the older sisters gave him up as hopeless, he came
as a sort of challenge to the younger.
This might have proved dangerous for him had it not been for his
schedule, which did not leave him very long in any one place and
which kept him always pretty well occupied. By spending his winters at
his New York club until after the holidays; then journeying to
Switzerland for the winter sports; then to Nice for tennis; then to Paris
for a month of gay spring and the Grand Prix; and so over to England
for a few days in London and a month of golf along the coast--he was
able to come back refreshed to his camp in the Adirondacks, there to
fish until it was time to return to Cambridge for the football season,
where he found himself still useful as a coach in the art of
drop-kicking.

The fact that he could get into his old football togs without letting out
any strings or pulling any in, and could even come through an
occasional scrimmage without losing his breath, was proof that he kept
himself in good condition.
It was not until his eleventh trip that Monte became aware of certain
symptoms which seemed to hint that even as pleasant a cycle as his
could not be pursued indefinitely. At Davos he first noted a change.
Though he took the curves in the long run with a daring that proved his
eye to be as quick and his nerves as steady